Suppressed and forgotten memories
by DemonUchiha17
Summary: Kioko Uchiha wants to forget all the unpleasent memories of her past, when her wish is granted what will happen when she is reunited with her younger brother Sasuke and how will she be able to live in Konoha without a good portion of her memories?
1. Chapter 1

"Isn't there something you wish you could forget? Anything that you wish you could clear from your mind once and for all?" An older man spoke from the shadows of a concealed room.

A younger girl around her late teens looked up in shock at the older man who appeared to be in his late 30's but was in face in his 50's. She bowed her head as the tears began to flow through her eyes. "My life has been one of misery… there are a lot of things I wish I could forget. No matter how hard I try those memories haunt every moment of my existence."

The man let out a sound showing his interest in the subject and he continued to watch her carefully. "Go on my dear, tell me… what would you like to forget?"

The young girl tried desperately to hold back her emotions as her mind began to wander through the events that had transpired throughout her life. She raised her hand and began to wipe away the tears and looked up at the man again, with a renewed composure. "When I was a young girl, my clan, the people I shared a bloodline with, they all turned their backs on me. They treated me as though I was the enemy and over the years things just got increasingly worse. I don't want to remember those times, not one minute of it."

A smile appeared on the man's face as he approached her from the shadows that had surrounded him. As he approached she was able to make out some of his features. The man had rather pale complexion and his eyes were golden, rather snake like. He projected an aura of wickedness but that didn't seem to have an effect on the girl. The smile on his face grew larger as he came into the light of the room. "I can make your desires a reality, my dear. You won't have to live with this pain any longer."

The girl was in a state of shock and tears of joy began to fall from her eyes. "You can really do that?"

"Of course I can, just trust me. Soon you will have no worries and you can get the peace you have desired all alone." He approached her slowly and reached out and placed his hand on her forehead. "Just relax; this will be over before you know it." The man used his powers to subdue the memories and at that moment the young girl passed out into his arms. He picked her up and brought her to a place where she could lay down and then he left her alone with a note before wishing her well.

-------------------------

Suppressed and forgotten memories

When the young girl awoke from her experience her eyes gazed on the clouds above her. She seemed so interested in them and was astounded by their beauty. As she stood up the letter feel down to the ground. She peered over at it with confusion and saw it was addressed to her. The young girl reached down and picked it up. At first she was a bit hesitant to open the letter but she soon got the courage she needed to read it. The handwriting wasn't familiar to her but she began to read it anyway.

_Kioko, you may not be aware of this but you were born in the land of fire, in the village hidden in the leaves. That is where your home is, go there and begin your new journey down the path you have desired. If you'd ever need to see me again you know where to find me. Take care now my dear._

_-Oro_

Kioko read the note over and over wondering what he was talking about. She shook her head and pocketed the letter. As the clouds started to move the sun snuck through and a strong bright light came into her eyes. She looked down at the bench which she had been sleeping on and noticed a headband with a strange symbol on it. When she picked it up she discovered it was the symbol for the village hidden in the leaves. She didn't think much of it and placed the headband on her forehead, picking up her stuff and headed toward the village the man known as Oro spoke of.

The young girl waked for hours until she had reached a gate that leaded toward the village. As she approached two centuries stood in her path. She walked toward them and took a bow as one would do when they respectfully meet someone. "Good Afternoon, I was wondering if you could help me. I'm looking for the village hidden in the leaves, would this place be it?'

The two guards looked at her with a confused look and then examined her. They both noticed that she was wearing the usual attire of those born into the Uchiha family and noticed she had the village headband on her forehead. This puzzled them wondering why someone from their own village would not know where they were. The two men turned to each other and spoke among themselves for a moment before turning their attention back to Kioko.

"You are correct, but miss, are you sure you're feeling alright?"

Kioko blinked as they asked her that. "Of course I'm alright. I just had a long night and I wasn't sure I was headed toward the right place. Thank you for your help." She bowed again as she walked past them and into the village. As she began walking through the village she became familiar with the area again. "It's good to be home again."

She continued to walk the streets not watching out where she was going. Sasuke was walking down the same path, holding a bag of supplies. Kioko then bumped into him, forcing him to drop his bag and fall to the ground. As he did so she heard the clanging from his Kunai that dropped from his pouch. She looked down at the young boy and quickly began gathering his things. "Oh I'm sorry…. I wasn't watching where I was going, you alright young man?"

Sasuke pulled himself up, stashing his Kunai back in his pouch and looked at the girl. "I'm just fine, it wasn't really a big deal, just watch where you're going next time." He took the bag from her and continued on his way. Kioko signed and looked in her hand and she noticed she was holding a piece of fruit. She then spun around and chased after Sasuke, "Hold on just a minute!"

Sasuke stopped and looked at her. She smiled as she handed him what belonged to him. "You forgot this." Sasuke looked at it and then back at her. He shook his head, "Don't worry about it, you can keep that."

Kioko nodded her head, "Thank you. Take care of yourself." She pocked the fruit and took off running and just then Sasuke made a strange discovery. On the back of her shirt he saw the symbol of his clan and just then surprise came over him. As he watched her leave he wondered who she was. _'Maybe will meet again.' _He thought to himself as he walked home.

The teenage ninja continued to walk through the village and soon came upon the memorial stone and a silver haired ninja standing their in a daze. She approached him and took a place beside him looking at the names on the stone. Kakashi felt the presence of someone and looked over beside him seeing Kioko. "What a terrible shame, isn't it?"

Kakashi nodded his head slightly and turned his attention back to the stone. "Indeed it is, but in a life such as ours this is expected to happen. However, it's good to see an old face after so many years. How have you been Kioko? I've noticed you no longer have that saddened look on your face anymore."

Kioko looked over at Kakashi and wondered what he was talking about. "I have nothing to be sad about, in fact I feel better then I ever have before." She then looked down,

"How have you been fairing over these years?"

"I can't complain too much. Believe it or not I have my own squad now and they are a lot like my old one when I was younger. They remind me so much of the old days. I'm sure your younger brother Sasuke will be happy to see you."

Kioko looked up at Kakashi in confusion. "Uh? Little brother?"

"That's right, don't you remember him? The two of you were so close when you were growing up." Kakashi questioned, flabbergasted by her response.

"I guess I don't remember that much from those days. So much has been happening I guess I haven't thought about it in so long. Well I guess I shouldn't keep him waiting." Kioko smiled at Kakashi and began walking toward her house.

"Wait, Kioko…."

"Don't worry so much, I'm just fine. I'll catch up with you some other time." She waved goodbye and continued on her way. She approached her house, nothing had changed since when she was little. Kioko opened the front door, " I'm home." She called out. There was no response from inside the house. Kioko wondered what was going on but didn't think much of it thinking they were all out. She slipped off her shoes and began walking around in her bare feet.

Kioko walked around the house and went to her old room. As she opened it she saw it was a complete mess. No one had been in there for years and that didn't surprise her much. She opened the window to get some fresh air into the room again and then went downstairs to relax. She laid down on the couch and closed her eyes and fell asleep.

Sasuke returned home soon after and narrowed his eyes when he saw the extra pair of shoes at the front door. He grabbed a kunai and made his way into the house expecting someone to be waiting for him. As he entered the living room he spotted Kioko, sleeping on the couch. "It's you again… that girl from this morning."

Kioko stirred as she heard Sasuke's words and she looked up at him. Sasuke kept his guard up and looked at her carefully. " Who are you anyway?"

"Oh sorry, I guess I didn't introduce myself earlier." She stood up and took a bow, " My name is Kioko Uchiha, its nice to meet you."

Sasuke's eyes widened and in shock he ended up dropping his kunai, "Kioko….is that really you?"

"Why are you so surprised to see me?" Kioko asked in her usual confusion.

Sasuke began to look increasingly upset. "Sister!" He ran up to her and gave her a big kiss. "I've missed you so much. I'm so glad your back." The air between the two of them began to grow increasingly awkward.

"Um, do we know each other from somewhere?" Sasuke looked up at her, close to tears. " Don't you remember me!? It's me Sasuke, your younger brother."

Kioko placed a hand over her right side of her face, "What is going on around here…" She said as she remembered Kakashi's words from earlier. _'What is wrong with me?'_

**To be continued…**


	2. Chapter 2

Kioko placed a hand over her right side of her face, "What is going on around here…" She said as she remembered Kakashi's words from earlier. _'What is wrong with me?'_

Sasuke continued to look over his older sister, someone he hadn't seen since the day of the massacre. He had believed that she was dead since Sasuke didn't find anyone that his older brother had spared. For years he believed he was the only other survivor but he was thrilled when he saw her again, however these new discoveries disturbed him. He looked into her eyes and spoke, "Kioko, you mean to tell me, you don't remember anything? Not even the time when I showed you my report card? That was one of the happiest memories of my life when I show that someone was proud of me because of what I was doing and not measuring me to Itachi."

Kioko looked into the eyes of her younger brother and could see the desperation in his face. "Everything about the old days are a blur to me. I'm sorry but I really don't remember all that well. I can picture the event but that's about all, there are parts missing, none of this makes any sense to me."

'_What did Niisan do to her? How could she not remember anything about our past together as a family? Why, why?' _ Sasuke thought to himself. His look became serious as he stared at her again, "Ok, sister do you at least remember where you've been all these years? For so long I thought you were dead and I was afraid I wouldn't see you again."

Kioko began to think about what the young boy had asked but nothing really clear was coming into her mind. "All I know I was wandering and I was with an old man a good amount of the time. He said that he would grant my wish and I guess he kept his word but I don't even remember what that was." She bowed her head in defeat and close to a point of utter frustration. "Some things are as clear as day to me, like some of my older friends, and some of the training days I had with Niisan, but it seems that all of my memories were ones of good nature. Everything negative seems to be erased completely; I just don't understand any of it."

Sasuke's eyes snapped open as he looked back at her, "Wait, did you say some of your older friends? Can you name one for me, maybe then together we can figure out what's going on."

"Well, I already met with one of them, it was Kakashi."

Sasuke looked rather surprised when he heard his sensei's name. _'If anyone would know what's going on with her, he should. At least we are getting somewhere.' _ Just as he was about to walk out his sister handed him a letter which she had been carrying. "Here Sasuke, maybe this will help. When I woke up this morning I found this note. I'm sure the name will ring a bell to Kakashi."

Sasuke reached out and took the letter, pocketing it right away so that it wouldn't get lost. He smiled back at his sister as he began walking out the door. "Don't worry, I'm sure we will figure this out together. I'll be back soon." Kioko nodded in response and watched Sasuke take off in search of his sensei.

The day grew later and Sasuke was looking around frantically for his teacher. When Kakashi didn't want to be found it was nearly impossible for the young Genin to find him since unlike his Jounin counterparts he didn't know him that well. He stopped to take a break on the bridge trying to map out a possible search route. As he stood there a dust cloud came up upon him, nearly tossing him into the river below. When the cloud stopped he saw it was Gai-sensei.

"Ah, good morning Sasuke, out for a run around the village I see. It's always a good way to start the day. Care to join me?"

Sasuke shook his head, "Not right now Gai, I have something important to do." He was about to take off and then he thought that maybe he's seen him since he and Kakashi always spent time with each other, even if most of the time they just ended up challenging each other to something stupid. "Say, you haven't seen Kakashi anywhere have you?"

"Kakashi, lets see. I saw him earlier, the dirty rat ended up defeating me again, but that's alright… I'm a man who keeps his word.."

Sasuke sighed_, 'how did I know this was going to happen. The two of them are impossible.' _His expression grew to one of annoyance, "Well, where did he go!?"

"Right, Kakashi went out to get some supplies I'm sure he's back at his apartment by now. I better be off, see you around Sasuke." With that Gai took off in another dust cloud and Sasuke was left standing there with a weird look on his face. He stood there for a few moments before deciding to continue his search. He approached the Jounin's apartment and approached the door. He took a deep breath before he reached out his hand and knocked on the door.

The young Uchiha waited by the door for what seemed like an eternity. From inside the door he heard the sliding of feet and then the door opened the silvered haired sensei. "Oh Sasuke it's you. Come on in." Sasuke walked past him and took a seat. Kakashi looked at his star pupil and wondered what made him come all this way.

"Kakashi, I need to know something. Is there something that…."

"You don't need to say another word. I know now why you came, it's about your sister isn't it?" Kakashi didn't need an answer before he approached and sat in a chair beside him. "Then you noticed it too. It strikes me odd seeing her current behavior. She isn't acting like the Kioko I remember."

"I noticed that too, and what makes this whole thing even more confusing is that it seems she doesn't remember anything negative about her past." Kakashi looked thoughtful as he heard those words. Before he could say another word Sasuke handed him the letter that Kioko was carrying around with her. "I thought this might be able to help a little." Kakashi took the letter from the young boy and began to read it. His only visible eye widened when he finished. "What's wrong?"

He pointed to the bottom of the letter. "I'm sure that will give you enough reason to worry." Sasuke looked at him with confusion until he took the letter back and looked at the name signed at the bottom of the letter. "This is Orochimaru's doing without a doubt."

Sasuke's hand formed a tight fist and his anger began to increase. "Why did that bastard have to touch her? I swear when I get my hands on him…."

"Sasuke, we have been over this. Orochimaru is far above your level. If you can't beat Itachi you don't stand a chance against Orochimaru. We both know that Itachi could overpower Orochimaru easily if he wanted too. So just settle down." They both took a breather before they began to think about it further. "Well from what he says he gave Kioko what she wanted, now from what I know Kioko didn't want to be haunted by memories that happened before you were born. That must be it. He took away her painful memories."

"Why would he though? He wouldn't do something unless it benefited him."

Kakashi began to think about that. He knew that Sasuke had a point. Anything that Orochimaru had done was for his own benefit. Kakashi then began to think about the old days how Kioko and Itachi would always do things together and then it came to him. "That's it, it may have appeared that he was doing it for her but in reality he was using that desire as a way to get rid of her, to make sure she would not be able to oppose him. Kioko discovered a great deal of her chakra when she was younger, and now that means that Kioko doesn't have any memory of those events. To put it simply, he has weakened her to a point to where she is no longer a threat."

Sasuke grew increasingly angry. Orochimaru was a thorn that stuck into his backside and now he had gone and done something he sees as unforgivable. "What do we do now!? We have to do something to return Kioko's memories."

"I can only think of one possibility, the only people who can find suppressed memories are the Anbu. Even though I no long belong with them I think I can still convince the Hokage to order them to try. Don't worry, we will get your sister back to normal, I promise." Sasuke felt reassured by his sensei's words. Even though things seemed helpless at the time he was confident that things would improve. "You go on home Sasuke; I'll take care of everything."

Sasuke left his sensei with a feeling of calmness. He knew that he would be able to do it and that made him feel more at ease. Kakashi made his way to the Hokage's mansion. We walked up to his office and as he approached he saw the old man sitting there with a mountain of paper work, smoking his pipe. Without looking up the Hokage greeted him warmly, "Welcome Kakashi, its always good to get a visit from you. What is it I can do for you?"

"Hokage-sama, as you may know after the Uchiha massacre, Sasuke's older sister had been no where to be found. Well it seems that she has returned to the village. However, I have my concerns."

The Hokage blew some smoke from his pipe and looked at Kakashi with a thoughtful expression, "Such as?"

"It seems she has had a run in with Orochimaru recently. The incident has wiped clean most of her memories however, I believe that the Anbu can find them and awaken them again. Without those memories Kioko's power is at best Chuunin level and we both know her power has the potential to be above Kage level, which we have seen in the past not only from her but from Itachi as well."

The mentioning of Orochimaru's name stirred up some memories for the old Hokage. He stood up and looked out the window behind him. "So another of the great ninja of our village has returned. The knowledge Kioko has locked in her memories could be very important to the village and I can't allow something like that to remain unchecked. You are as wise as ever Kakashi, I will grant your request. Lets just make sure that this is watched very closely, we don't want another catastrophe to happen in our village."

Kakashi nodded, "Understood." With that he vanished leaving the Hokage alone to ponder what has just taken place. "What are you planning Orochimaru?" He asked himself as he continued to watch over the village from above.

The Anbu black ops ninja were sent and in no time they had arrived at the house that belonged to Sasuke. They approached carefully and knocked on the door. Within moments Kioko came to the door and looked at the ninja standing there. "Can I help you?"

"You are Miss. Kioko Uchiha correct?" One of the Anbu questioned her.

Kioko didn't know what to make of the sudden appearance of the Anbu but she decided it was in her best interest not to resist them. "That's right, what is it you want from me?"

"We just want to ask you a few questions, if you wouldn't mind coming with us." Kioko exited the house and closed the door behind her. She followed the squad of Anbu wondering if this is what Sasuke meant when he said he would get Kakashi to help her out. _'But what could the Anbu do to help me, this whole thing is strange but I know Kakashi, if he thinks it will help then I'm sure this is what will reveal the answers to me._'

**To be continued…..**


	3. Chapter 3

"We just want to ask you a few questions, if you wouldn't mind coming with us." Kioko exited the house and closed the door behind her. She followed the squad of Anbu wondering if this is what Sasuke meant when he said he would get Kakashi to help her out. _'But what could the Anbu do to help me, this whole thing is strange but I know Kakashi, if he thinks it will help then I'm sure this is what will reveal the answers to me._'

The group of Anbu along with Kioko walked through the village. The whole time she was trying to figure out what they could do for her. In no time at all they arrived at an abandoned building which looked like it hasn't been used in several years. Kioko recognized it as one of the buildings her clan used for intelligence. The Anbu opened the door and they walked into the dark room. Unknown to Kioko, Kakashi was standing in the shadows of the room, listening in on the conversation like the Hokage requested. In the center of the room a single chair was present. One of the ninja took a match and lights some of the candles in front of the chair.

While this was going on Kioko was looking around at her current surroundings. There was absolutely nothing in the room. The Anbu that was closer to her gestured to her to sit down on the chair. Kioko sat down in the chair without any hesitation. The three Anbu ninja stood in front of her and it began to make her feel uncomfortable. Noticing this one of the Anbu began to take off her mask, and as she did so her fellow squad members appeared to object.

As she removed the animal mask from her face she revealed a comforting expression. She gave her head a good shake and as a result her long blond hair lay back against her body. The Anbu member looked at Kioko with her pale blue eyes. Kioko looked at her for some time before coming up with the conclusion that she was a part of the Hyuuga clan. A comforting smile appeared across her face and she slowly approached Kioko. "Don't be afraid Kioko; we are just going to help you regain your memories."

An expression of confusion came over her face as she looked at the Hyuuga Anbu. The look that appeared on her face seemed to question how she and the other Anbu could do that. "What will you do to me?" She questioned with hint of concern in her voice.

The female Anbu rejoined her squad and looked at her. "We are going to use a reverse hypnosis on you." Before she could continue she noticed that Kioko was already confused about what she was talking about. "Let me explain. We will put you into an unconscious state and then you will travel back into your memories. Then you will be able to tell us what you are witnessing as you remember the events of the past."

After hearing about the process she immediately began to relax and decided that this was indeed the right direction to go in to regain the memories that have locked inside of her. The other Anbu nodded as to understand that all parties were ready and they began their search to find Kioko's memories. "Jigyaku no Jutsu (1)," the ninja called out as he began to put Kioko into an unconscious state.

_(1) Time reversal Technique _

As the jutsu begins to take affect Kioko's body becomes completely limp. Her hands drop down to the sides of the chair and her head falls down to her chest. The light of the candles reflect on her body, with a brilliant glow. "You are traveling back in your memories… one day ago, two days ago, three days ago… where are you?"

"I'm in the woods… traveling down a long road. There is a building ahead of me that leads underground."

"Who were you going to see?" The third Anbu questioned.

"The person who I believe can help me forget my past."

"And this person was Orochimaru?" The female ninja asked. Kioko nodded her head a bit in response to their question. As time went on Kioko continued to describe what happened after she had arrived at Orochimaru's hideout.

"_As I walked toward the building I was beginning to have my doubts but I was still determined to rid myself of these memories. I walked down the stairs, which took me to an underground place. As I wandered the halls I saw, many cages, containing other ninja, from different villages. I continued on my way and soon I entered a large room. The room could possibility fight a whole village inside and still have plenty of room. On the other side of the room, I saw a door and in front of the door I could barely make out a figure. We weren't formally introduced but I remember seeing him when I was younger. He later asked me a question, was there anything I wish I could forget and that's when it all played out. He decided to grant my desire and suppressed my memories."_

The Anbu listened to her tale about the events that led up to the encounter with Orochimaru. "Where was this hideout?"

"_Far away." _She responded, _"It had to be a long journey away from Konoha, close to the known location of the Sound village." _ The female Anbu whispered something into the third ninja's ear and he nodded in response and vanished in the blink of an eye.

"Alright Kioko we are going to go back even farther now. One year ago, two years ago, five years ago… you are a young child, around the age of five years old. Where are you?"

Kioko seemed to be struggling with this a lot more then before. "_I'm in the woods, training. However, I can't find my brother anywhere. I begin to search for him, I wonder through the woods and then in seconds I end up in the village with Itachi walking beside me." _

The Anbu looked at each other, they both realized that there were things missing from those events and they began to look for more answers. No matter what question they through at her it seemed that Kioko couldn't come up with an answer. As a result of their findings they undo the jutsu and allow her to leave.

On the bright side, at least now they knew where they could find Orochimaru. The trouble was they had no idea what to do with Kioko now. Even the Anbu couldn't break through the jutsu the Ex-Sannin placed on her. Kakashi emerged from the shadows of the room and the Anbu could only shake there heads in disappointment. He let out a deep sigh, "It looks like we will just have to go to the source of this problem. I'm grateful for all the help." Kakashi then took off to inform the Hokage of all their findings.

Kioko walked the streets of the village, feeling a sense of helplessness. She couldn't imagine this is what she desired for herself. Soon she approached the place she was now calling home. She entered the front door and slipped off her shoes and called out, "I'm home." She didn't hear anything at first but soon she head three different voices, all of which belonged to children. She walked through her house and soon found the source of all the noise. It was her little brother along with two of his friends. "Sasuke, are these friends of yours?"

Naruto and Sakura snapped their heads in the direction they heard the older ninja's voice. Sakura was slightly stunned when her eyes fixed on the older Uchiha ninja. Naruto was also very surprised when he saw her, instantly trying to imagine how strong she was.

Sasuke looked up from the photo album and made eye contact with his sister. As he gazed on her he was hoping that he would see some change in her but he was disheartened when he saw the depressed expression that was in her eyes. Despite this he tried to maintain his own calm expression. "These are the other members of my squad, Naruto Uzumaki, and Sakura Haruno."

Kioko smiled at the both of them, "It's very nice to meet the two of you. I'm Sasuke's older sister Kioko." Before the others could say another word her gaze fell upon the photos on the floor. She approached the group and knelt down to take a look. "Taking a look at old memories, I see Sasuke." Sasuke could only nod as he continued to flip through the pages. The more and more he looked through them, the more upset he began to get. Kioko's look changed from one of disappointment to one of concern. "What's wrong, Sasuke? You seem disturbed by something."

Sasuke's eyes snapped wider as his sister asked the question. Sakura also found it quit add for her to ask that particular question. "Kioko-san, don't you remember what happened to your clan", She questioned out of curiosity.

Kioko raised a single eyebrow and turned her attention toward Sasuke, looking for answers. Sakura could tell that it was hard for him and that he was in a way trying to prevent himself from revealing what happened. "Our clan… they were all killed except for three of us."

Kioko's eyes widened as she heard the news. Her head began to throb as she tried to process the information. She shook her head, "No, that's not possible… how could something like that happen?!" Kioko fought hard to control her emotions, holding back the flow of tears. "Why, why is all this happening?"

Kakashi approached the Hokage's mansion once more and stood in front of the old man's desk. The old Hokage was looking out his window at the village and sighed as he saw the younger ninja approach. "How are things progressing with Kioko?"

The silver haired ninja simply shook his head in response. "It's no good, even the Anbu can't uncover those memories that Orochimaru suppressed. However, if there is one thing of good news, is we now know where his hideout is."

The Hokage blew out a cloud of smoke and walked back to his desk to think. After a few moments the old man looked up at Kakashi with his hands folded. "That is indeed unfortunate that our Anbu were unable to awaken the memories locked inside Kioko. I must however agree that discovering the whereabouts of Orochimaru is good news. For your next mission, take all the ninja you think are required and go after him. We must not forget that he is a threat to our village and must be taken care of at once. Our village can not afford to act with such information open to us. While you are on this mission also try to find the answer to unlocking Kioko's memories. I'm putting my trust in you Kakashi, don't fail."

Kakashi nodded in response. "You can count on me Lord Hokage." With that in a flash of smoke Kakashi left the Hokage's office and set off to Kioko's home. At the same time Sakura tended to Kioko on the couch. Sasuke and the others began to think that trying to reawaken Kioko's memories might cause her to react in this fashion. Kakashi walked through the door and saw that his squad was already assembled. "Well at least this makes my job a bit easier, seeing as all of you are here."

"Kakashi-sensei, where have you been? We have been waiting for you this whole time!" Naruto shouted as he looked upon his sensei. Kakashi rubbed the back of his head and simply let out a laugh. "I'm sorry for being late, but I had some business to take care of."

Naruto had a doubtful look on his face that seemed to be saying, 'yeah right, he was just staring at the stone again or looking at more stuff from that pervert hermit.' Kakashi sighed as he looked at them all again, "Well in fact I just have received word that we will be going on another mission, a mission of a ranking of A." Shock ran through the minds of the Genin gathered in the room but underneath all that surprise was excitement.

Naruto smiled as he looked at Sasuke and began to think, 'alright, an A ranked mission. Now I can show them all what I am capable of. You just watch Sasuke, and see how much better I have become.'

Kakashi noticed this excitement coming from his squad and underneath his mask a smile appeared. He then peered over at Kioko and looked at her with a look of determination. 'Don't worry, we will recover your memories and make sure you get the life you truly deserve. Just have faith in our abilities.'

**To be continued.**


	4. Chapter 4

While in an unconscious state Kioko began to dream. She was walking through the village and she noticed how all of the people around her gave her looks, showing their distaste. Kioko felt tears flow down her cheeks, wondering why people like herself had such hatred for her. She wondered into the woods after quickly seeing a vision of her older brother and as she did Kioko encountered a small pack of wild wolves. Of course being at the age she was in the dream, she had become completely terrified from the site.

The wolves started to approach her with a posture of aggressiveness. Kioko slowly began to back up from the treating pack but that didn't help the situation. The wolves continued their pursuit. The young Kioko backed up until a large crack stood in her path. She let out some of her chakra and the wolves seemed to respond to it. As a result they began to settle down, and stop their pursuit. Before Kioko was able to approach the now calm wolves, some of the rocks gave way and she began to fall, into the deep chasm.

In shock Kioko snapped out of the dream, breathing rather heavily in the hospital bed. She raised her hand to her forehead and rubbed it a little to relieve the light pain she was feeling at the moment. Kioko took a deep breath and looked out the window that was next to her bed. 'What is going on with me," she wondered as she stared out into the village.

Just then, Kioko could hear the sound of the door siding across the floor. She peered over and saw the three Genin entering followed by their Sensei. "Hey look, Kioko-chan has come to," Naruto announced as entered.

Kakashi walked past his students and took a set near his old friend, disturbed by the expression written across her face. "Kioko, do you remember anything at all?"

Kioko nodded slightly, "I believe so, and I just had a startling dream. People around me were giving me looks of disgust, and to make it stranger, they were members of my own clan." As Sasuke heard this his eyes widened slightly, wondering why that would happen. From what he remembered his older sister was much like Itachi, a prodigy at a young age. It didn't make any sense for them to hate her. "Soon I found myself in the woods and I encountered a pack of wolves and the strangest thing happened, I was able to stop their attack on me, but I don't know how," she continued her explanation.

Kakashi listened to every word that she said and began to think about the images she was describing. To him it sounded like one of the earlier experiences she had in her life time and knowing this, it gave him a sense of hope. "It seems in your dreams; you are able to awaken some of your suppressed memories. Don't you worry, we will be able to uncover them soon enough, and this is part of the reason I have come by."

The older Uchiha looked over at Kakashi with a look of confusion. "What are you talking about Kakashi? Do you mean to tell me you figured out a way to restore my memories?"

"Actually I think I have. We know now that Orochimaru was the one who took away your memories, so Lord Hokage has given us the mission to track him down and if possible restore your memories. It was thanks to the Anbu that we now have information we need to find him. Furthermore, you have been asked to accompany us on this mission."

Kioko smiled at the thought. "Going on a mission with you, it's just like the old days. This sounds like fun. When do we head off?"

Kakashi laughed slightly as he saw the excitement in her eyes. "Woah, now, we aren't going anywhere until the doctors give you clearance." He leaded over and flicked her forehead. "Just take it easy Kioko and rest for a while."

A slight annoyed growl came from her throat. She rubbed her forehead and gave him a dirty look. After a few moments the two of them just laughed. Suddenly the sound of someone clearing their throat interrupted them. The two Jounin looked over in the direction of the door and they saw Lord Hokage standing there. "Excuse the interruption but I would like to talk to Kioko privately for a few moments."

Kakashi nodded as he herded his squad outside. Naruto complained the whole time but went outside regardless. The old Hokage walked over to Kioko's bedside and took a seat. He looked at her with a warm smile across his face, "I know this must be difficult for you but I felt it necessary to speak with you before you regain your memories. I'm aware that in your past you had experienced many hardships both at home and in the village. I also am aware that these experiences hurt you a great deal emotionally. As Hokage I feel it's my duty to apologize to you for all that is happened. When you regain your memories, it's my desire that you will choose to remain here in the village. However, I also understand that may not be possible given your past, so if you do decide you don't want to live in the village any longer I will not stop you from leaving. Truly, I want you to realize that things have changed and that you are part of the Konoha family and all of your friends, old and new want only one thing, for you to be happy."

Tears swelled up in the Uchiha's eyes as she listened to the Hokage's speech. The old man embraced her and from that single action she could feel something. At that moment she didn't know what it was but it made her soul easy. "Thank you Lord Hokage."

The Hokage pulled back and gave her another warm smile. "You're most welcome Kioko. As Hokage, I want for my people to be happy and that's what I wish for you as well. I truly hope that this mission helps you regain your memories and you can finally find the path you want to follow." With these words, the old man stood up and walked outside to allow her guests to spend some time with her.

The silence of the hospital was disturbed as Naruto's voice could be heard in the hallway. Kioko thought back to some of the memories she had of the Fourth Hokage and it made her laugh listening to Naruto. She stood up from the bed and walked out into the hall where she was greeted by squad seven. "You feel better Kioko-san?" Sakura asked as her gaze became fixed on her.

Kioko smiled and nodded in response, "I'm feeling much better now, thank you." She looked around and noticed that Kakashi was no longer with them. "Where did Kakashi run off too now?"

"Kakashi-sensei was called away by one of the doctors for some reason, but never mind that… would you care to have some ramen with me?," Naruto questions.

Sakura looked over at Naruto with protest. "Naruto, you know that Kioko can't be wondering around right now. The doctors didn't give her the clear yet. What if…" Before Sakura could finish what she was saying Kioko held out her arm in front of her, in a way telling Sakura she didn't have to worry. Sakura was also surprised by this, seeing that she and Sasuke acted very much the same around her when it came to things of this nature.

"I'd be happy to go with you Naruto. I haven't had ramen from Konoha in a long time, and I was looking forward to sampling some when I felt better." Naruto looked all excited when he heard that she had excepted his invitation. He then happily marched off to the shop. Kioko laughed as she followed close behind, dragging Sasuke by the arm.

Sakura sighed heavily as surrendered and ended up following the three of them to the shop. At the same time Kakashi was talking to one of the doctors about Kioko. "Sorry to have to call you out like that Kakashi, but being that Sasuke is so young I couldn't tell him about these things. You are one of Kioko's only closest friend that has remained in the village, so I saw it fit that you be informed." Kakashi stood there with his arms crossed, listening vigilantly. "Go on."

"Well psychologically she has received some damaged but it appears to be temporary for the most part. It seems that a good deal of her memories can be awakened with experiencing something from her past over or at least something close to it. In a dream state she is capable of witnessing some of them. It's in my opinion that Kioko's own will has allowed her to regain parts of her memory, which in turn weakened the affects of Orochimaru's jutsu," The doctor explained.

Kakashi nodded, "Understood. It looks like things aren't as serious as we first thought."

The medical ninja sighed, "However, in regards to her chakra, that has proven not to be as affected as her memories. It's known most of her powers came from the more negative experiences that she suffered as a small child. A good deal of those powers won't return as fast as we may like, and that includes her Sharingan. There is however good news. I've monitored her progress and it seems there has been an increase in her chakra flow, so that indicates to me she's getting closer to a recovery, but until then watch her closely. At this moment she is unaware of the greatness of her own abilities and the slightest even could set that off, if that would happen…."

Kakashi nodded again, "I'm aware of the dangerous powers she possesses. Since she and Naruto are very similar I know the stakes and I will be observant of any change like that."

Naruto and the others have made there way to the Ramen shop and were enjoying large bowls of the house best. Sasuke and Sakura were eating their bowls slowly while Naruto and Kioko were eating theirs rather quickly. The peace around them was shattered by the screams of women and children in the area. The four ninja busted out of their seats and rushed outside, looking for the disturbance. As the arrived on the scene, they saw a few people hurt from bite wounds that looked like they came from dogs.

Sakura rushed over to assist the wounded people. As Naruto and Sasuke were helping another group of people, they tried to get some information from them. "Hey old man, what happened here?" Naruto questioned.

The man turned to Naruto, cringing slightly as Sasuke bandaged his wound tightly. "Wolves, they came out of no where and attacked us…"

Naruto blinked, "Wolves?" Sasuke looked over at his sister and noticed she was standing there, appearing like she was concentrating on the energy around them. Naruto looked over at Kioko, confused what was going on. Just then, Kioko's eyes snapped open as she took off in search for them in the village. Naruto and Sasuke followed her, leaving Sakura to tend to the injured.

Kioko came to a sliding stop as she came upon the attacking wolves. As she tried to approach them they became increasingly aggressive. Naruto's body was shaking slightly as he called out to Kioko, telling her to be careful. Then Naruto prepared to use his shadow clone jutsu to fight off the attacking animals but before he even had a chance, Kioko began to walk toward them. "Kioko-chan what are you doing?!" Naruto shouted.

Sasuke watched as his sister began to gather chakra around her. Naruto began to rush toward her but before he could go anywhere, Sasuke grabbed his arm and held him back. He growled at Sasuke, "Let me go Sasuke… don't you care what happens to your sister!?"

"Quiet baka, just wait and watch. She knows what she is doing." Sasuke hissed at him as he turned his attention back at her. Kioko continued on her path toward the pack that seemed indifferent to her display of chakra. As this whole thing was going on, Kakashi stood on top of a building. He too understood what she was trying to do.

Kioko then increased the flow of chakra around her and then crouched down in front of them. Naruto began to get increasing nervous, seeing that she was totally open to an attack. Suddenly, the unexpected happened, the wolves began to respond to her and seemed to become more docile. Kioko was then safely able to approach the wolves and give them something to eat without any problems.

Naruto looked at Sasuke, "but how?"

Sasuke smiled, "My sister is a wolf tamer, Naruto. You know how you use frogs in battle, wolves are my sister's weapons. She can control several packs at once and use their power to her advantage." The younger Uchiha looked at Kioko with a proud look on his face. _'It's good to see you're getting back to normal sister.'_

Kakashi continued to watch them carefully. "It's begun, the Kioko everyone once feared as begun to rediscover herself. Now it is possible to restore Kioko to her old self and take care of an old threat to Konoha."

**To be continued….**


	5. Chapter 5

The village of Konoha was once again put in a peaceful state. Naruto simply stood there is wonder as he observed how Kioko could easily approach and handle the wolves that a few moments ago were attacking his fellow ninja. Sakura rushed on the scene after taking care of the injured and leaving them in the hands of the medical nin. As she approached on the scene the wolves began to growl and get into a defensive stance. Naruto acted quickly standing in their path but his efforts were wasted. Kioko spent out a spark of her chakra and they instantly calmed down. The blond haired, hyperactive knucklehead ninja blinked a couple of times in confusion as to why they were suddenly so much docile.

Sasuke shook his head and sighed, "I'll explain it one more time Naruto, so listen up! I'm not going to repeat myself a third time." Naruto gave him a dirty look and just folded his hands across his chest and listened to what the young Uchiha had to say. "My sister like you has a contract with animals; however in her case it's a lot more difficult. She was chosen by the guardians of the wolves to be their next leader and they discovered this years ago. My sister has the ability to control wolves with her chakra. In other words Kioko can make them more docile or vicious depending on the situation."

Naruto nodded in understanding. The young ninja was left wondering what other kinds of power she possessed. Sakura let out a sigh of relief as she approached her teammates, "I'm glad you guys are alright. Looks like everything is taken care of here."

"Not exactly." A voice from behind them stated. The three young ninja spun around to see their sensei standing there. "Kioko you have not changed in the slightest. You always use to rush things but some habits never die I take it."

Kioko stood up and looked at Kakashi. "You worry about me too much. I'm feeling much better now; there really wasn't a need to stay in the hospital."

Kakashi sighed deciding not to tell her more about the problems having such abilities will cause her. As the two of them looked at each other Kioko finally gave up and decided to return to the hospital to make him happy. At the same time the villagers began to give her dirty expressions as she walked past. It became apparent to Naruto that they weren't too trilled with Kioko being there and the whole thing just made him rather frustrated. He turned around and was about to give them another one of his lectures but Kakashi grabbed him and shook his head. Sakura looked over at Sasuke and he wouldn't say anything either, this made her to believe there was something more serious.

When they arrived back at the hospital Naruto gave his sensei a look. "What was that all about back there sensei!?"

"Naruto, if you would have said anything back there the situation would be become more serious."

"Kakashi-sensei, what do you mean by that? What would have happened?" Sakura questioned.

Kakashi looked over at Kioko for a moment and then back at his students, "You see Kioko isn't one of the most liked ninja to be born in this village. Even though she was born of the noble clan of the Uchiha that only makes the situation worse. It all relates back to the first time that Kioko became aware of her unique power to control wolves. When the rest of the village found out, they then began to see her as a monster that had taken on a human appearance. They feared her to a point that it almost led to her assassination one several occasions. Her own clan began to reject her and this all led up to her disappearance. Now a days the feelings of hatred have cooled slightly but there is still a degree of hatred there."

Naruto looked over at Kioko with a sad expression written all over his face. 'So Kioko is a lot like me. The villagers despise me because of the Kyuubi. It seems that they don't like anything they don't really understand.'

The silver haired ninja walked over to Kioko, embracing her. She felt comfort as she was held in Kakashi's arms, just like she always was with Itachi. Kioko looked out of the hospital window and began to wonder, 'What are some of the other things I will find out about myself? I feel there is something great inside of me but what, of that I'm not sure. Perhaps in time I will begin to understand more.'

The concern that Kioko once had on her face vanished and was replaced with a look of relief. "In a few days I'm sure we will be ready to head out to retrieve my memories. Don't worry Kakashi; I'll stay in the hospital till then."

If you could see underneath his mask, you would be able to see a pleased smile. He raised his thumb and looked at his squad, "A week from today, Squad seven will go on their next mission."

At the sound of the announcement Naruto was getting all excited. He was acting like a little kid in a candy store. Sakura laughed to herself as she watched Naruto 'dance' around the room in celebration. Sasuke shook his head in disbelief, 'What a complete idiot. Only Naruto would get excited about something like a mission. However, I can't say that I'm not trilled about the idea myself. At least I'll be able to do something to help my sister out, instead of it being the other way around.'

"The three of you should get lots of rest; you will have to be at your best since this will be another A ranked assignment. I will be depending on each one of you to do your best and to be prepared for anything. On that note, lets let Kioko have some rest." Kakashi pushed the three Genin out the door and slide it shut behind him.

The week went by rather quickly for the three Genin. Each of them spent their time doing various things. Sasuke spent more time training to prepare himself for his upcoming battle with Orochimaru. Sakura practiced some more of her medical jutsu, knowing it would come in handy during their mission. Naruto on the other hand wasn't as serious as his teammates. He took his sensei's advice and took it easy over the week. He spent most of his time eating ramen, and having visits with Kioko. When he wasn't doing any of that he was fast asleep in his bed waiting for the big day.

Mission day arrived in no time and the typical things happened. Sakura and Sasuke were on time waiting for the rest of their team to show up. They let out annoyed sighs as they asked themselves why do they even bother to show up so earlier if no one else was even going to be there. Kioko arrived a few minutes after shaking her head as she knew where Kakashi was instead of where he should be. 'That Kakashi, he always goes to visit them even when he has to be somewhere else. Not that you could really blame him but come on, spending hours there doesn't make much sense.'

Naruto's alarm clock was ringing and soon slid off the place he had it and landed right on top of him. The blond haired ninja jumped in surprise as he felt the buzzing and looked at the object that found its resting place on his chest. As his eyes adjusted to the clock he noticed that he was running late, again. Naruto let out a scream as he ran around his room like a chicken without a head and began to change his cloths, throwing his PJ'S all over the place. He jumped out the door and took off down the street, nearly running over everyone who stood in his path. "AH I'M GOING TO BE LATE!" He shouted, "Sasuke and Sakura are going to kill me!"

The Ramen shop owner simply laughed as he watched Naruto fly by his shop. "Take care of yourself Naruto!" He shouted after him. The hyper kid shouted back a response and continued on his way in a hurry.

At that moment Sasuke and Sakura heard what sounded like a stamped coming their way. Sakura looked at the figure coming toward them and she recognized it to be Naruto. He panted as he approached the rest of his team. "Sorry I'm late you guys… I woke up kind of late and…"Naruto looked around and then he noticed Kakashi was nowhere to be found, "Where's Kakashi-sensei?"

"He still hasn't gotten here yet, like that's anything new. This happens every time, he tells us to meet him somewhere at a certain time and then he shows up hours later." Sakura complained.

"Ah good morning, sorry to keep you waiting." Kakashi said while he was crouched down on a log.

"KAKASHI-SENSEI!" Sakura and Naruto shouted at him.

Kakashi simply rubbed the back of his head and looked at his students. "Sorry about that. I was just enjoying the scenery; this time of the year is always rather stunning to look at."

"Yeah, yeah we've heard all that before." Naruto muttered.

Kakashi let out a small laugh as he jumped down from the post and joined his squad. "Well in any event we are all here, so let us embark on our new mission." With that the annoyance gave way to excitement for the three younger ninja and soon they were all headed toward the enemies hideout, the Sound Village.

**To be continued….**


	6. Chapter 6

Kakashi was at the head of the group, keeping an eye out for any enemy ninja that would cross their path. Kioko remained behind him, with the three Genin beside her. Sasuke for the first time in a while looked pleased during a mission; since this was the first time he was able to fight along side his sibling. Sakura continued to look over at the female Uchiha with interest, wondering what skills she possessed. She as well as Naruto have witnessed first hand what an Uchiha could do.

Naruto was just as excited as always, every time he was going on a mission, he looked around being slightly reckless with his actions, which earned him a banging over the head from Sakura. As the mission continued on, Kioko suddenly remembered an event from her past, grabbing her head a bit from the sudden shock. Sasuke walked over to her in concern, "Sis what is it?"

Kakashi stopped walking and looked right at her and relied what had happened, she was reliving the events that took place in this particular spot years before. "These surroundings have triggered another memory recall."

_Kioko was in these woods, and appeared to be wearing the Jounin outfit, a kunai in her hand. The winds were blowing and leaves flew around the area. As she looked around she could see Kakashi, along with Yondaime, who at this time wasn't a Hokage. A fierce battle took place, but the enemy was unknown. As the battle progressed she awakened her hidden powers and used her Kekkei Genkai to help defeat them._

As she came out of the memory she saw her younger brother staring up at her, with an expression that asked her if she was ok. She gave him a reassuring smile and patted his head. "I'm just fine, I just remembered something. No need for concern, we have a mission to complete." Before they could get much further a growling noise broke the silence that had covered over the group. The four of them turned their heads and it appeared that it was Naruto, he was hungry again.

He had a hungry expression written all over his face and covered his stomach as it growled again. "I'm so hungry!" He complained. Kakashi sighed knowing there wasn't anywhere to eat in the current area but he didn't have to say a word, Kioko walked over and handed him a container. The young spiky haired ninja blinks a few times and then opens the container to reveal ramen. "Yay ramen, ramen, thank you so much Kioko-chan, ramen, ramen."

Naruto took out some chop sticks he was carrying and then simply began eating but he soon realized this wasn't any ramen from the village. It was much different in fact it was better then any ramen he has tasted. "This is amazing, I've never had ramen as good as this. Where did it come from?"

Kioko smiled. "Before we came here I decided to cook up some of my homemade ramen, since I know Sasuke likes it so much." As Kioko commented on it, Sasuke turned away slightly, having a slight redness on his face. "And he mentioned to me your ramen addiction so I thought it would be a good idea to bring some along."

Naruto was slightly confused as he looked over at Sasuke. He never thought that his greatest rival ever thought of him like that. This caused him to smile and whispered a thank you to the Uchiha survivor. Not too long after the aroma of the ramen got everyone hungry and they all looked over at Kioko with begging eyes. She laughed in response and passed out some of her ramen to everyone. The three Genin say together and watched in interest as Kakashi was about to eat his.

Kioko looked over at the three young ninja and then back at Kakashi and laughed to herself. 'It looks like they too wanted to find out what was under Kakashi's mask.' Naruto and the others watched carefully hoping to get a peak of what was behind the mask of their sensei. The intensity of the air increased as Kakashi lifted up his hands to his face in order to pull down his mask to eat. You could hear the hearts racing and each gulped waiting for the surprise.

Kakashi opened up the container and just as he was about to eat it, the event couldn't be witnessed. Just then Kioko steps in front of them, with a smile on her face. "So what do you think?" The eyes of the three bug out as they missed what Kakashi's face looks like. She blinked, pretending not to know what was going on. "Was it that bad?"

Sakura quickly shook her head. "No, Kioko-san, it was well done. You make an amazing cook." As she was telling her how she felt the inner Sakura came out, "Not again! Every time we try to take a look something always stops us… cha!"

Sasuke had a similar look on his face but he broke a smile, "It's just as I remembered it. It looks like some things never change after all, right sis?" Kioko laughed lightly as she nodded in agreement not noticing Naruto's twitching eye.

'why.. why does this always happen? I was sure this would be the time to see it but no…'His thoughts were disturbed by Sasuke pushing him off the bench and glared at him. Naruto rubbed his head and glared back at Sasuke. "Sasuke you jerk!" A fight began between the two of them and the dust began to swirl around them.

Kakashi walked over, shaking his head as she watched his two students fight each other. He smiled at Kioko and handed her the bowl. "That was delicious Kioko, thank you." He began walking along with Sakura and Kioko was soon right behind. The three of them didn't want to bother the two boys with their fight so they continued on ahead.

Moments later Sasuke and Naruto settled down and they looked around. "Ahhh great. They left us, this is all your fault Naruto"

"My fault? Why are you blaming me for this? You're the one who started this!"

Sasuke picked himself off the ground and brushed off all the dirt that was on him. "Never mind you loser, lets just go."

Sakura looked over at Kakashi and began to wonder. "Sensei, was it alright to leave those two back there?"

Kakashi laughed as he looked back at Sakura. "Not like we could lose them anyway. I just didn't feel like breaking them up. The two of them have to get it out of their system and that's what I allowed them to do." He looked behind them and saw Naruto and Sasuke running up to them. "See what I told you, they are back already."

Kioko giggled a bit as she looked at the two of them and how bruised they were from punching the hell out of each other. The boys sighed as they realized they did that on purpose, complaining to themselves as they walked along with Kioko. The trip to the sound village appeared to be rather peaceful and it appeared they wouldn't be running into any enemy ninja which relieved Kakashi.

Kioko stopped in her tracks as she heard some howling coming from a distance. She turned her head and listened to them and then looked toward Kakashi, "Hold on a moment… there seems to be trouble around here." The white haired ninja blinked and looked over where Kioko had mentioned and he too heard the wolf calls, recognizing them to be one of alert.

"You're right. Something must be going on, but I don't understand why there would be any violence in this area." As Kakashi continued talking they saw a cloud of smoke in that direction and they all looked at themselves and decided they were going to check it out. The five ninja rushed through that part of the woods to come upon a village. Kioko's eyes were shocked as she saw that several of the buildings had some serious damage and some were practically burned to the ground.

Naruto couldn't believe his eyes as he witnessed the condition of the village. "Who could have done…" Before he could finish his sentence a few wolves came out from the village and ran him to the ground. Naruto was laying face down into the ground, his body twitching after being run over. Kioko bent down and listened as they began to make noises, not understandable but anyone who raised them. Naruto sat up and gave a dirty look to the wolves that knocked him down.

Kioko looked at Kakashi with a serious expression on her face. "It was the sound village. They were the ones who did this." Everyone was in surprise when they heard the revelation and they decided that they should stay around and help these people, knowing that if the sound village was behind it, then they would end up coming back to do more harm.

They made their way, carefully into the village and looked around, seeing if there were any survivors. At first there was no sign that anyone had survived the attack but Naruto's ears perked up as he heard what sounded to be a crying child. He searched for the sound and found it in a beat up hut and decided to investigate. As he walked in he saw a young girl, holding her legs close to her chest, sobbing. Naruto walked in, "Hey there, its alright, I'm going to help you."

The young girl snapped her head up and looked at Naruto with fearful eyes. "No stay away…" Naruto felt bad for the child and decided to call for his sensei. Kakashi came walking in and carefully approached the girl, trying not to scare her anymore.

"It's alright, we aren't going to hurt you. We are from the village hidden in the leaves." The girl looked up in shock and looked at Kakashi's headband and instantly felt relieved that they weren't from the sound village. Kakashi was able to take her out of the building and brought her outside to get a better look at her. "You don't appear to have any injuries, tell us what happened here."

The young girl wiped her eyes and looked at Kakashi. "The day was like any other here in our village. We were just going on with our normal business, when suddenly we heard some crashing noises around the village. My older brother, who is the only family I have left, to check outside to see what had happened. From where I was a battle seemed to be taking place. I felt worried and looked outside to catch a glimpse of who was attacking us, they were ninja… with this symbol on their headbands." She leaned down and drew the Sound symbol on the ground. "They kidnapped my brother, I don't know what they are going to do to him."

Naruto felt angry as he heard the tale of the young kid and instantly felt sorry for the villagers. Kakashi looked down at the girl and asked if anyone else had survived the battle beside her and she couldn't answer. She had no idea if any else made it. Suddenly a male's voice could be heard from across the village. "Sairen." The girl looked relieved as she ran over to the man giving him a hug. "Uncle.. I was so scared."

He leaned down and played with her hair a bit, showing her some comfort and then glared at Kakashi and the others. "We don't want your kind here. Be gone, we don't want any more trouble."

"We just came to assist." Kakashi explained. However the man wasn't trilled with the idea as he began to pull out his weapon, forcing Kakashi to get defensive. The young girl shook her head and cried. "Please Uncle don't hurt them.. they aren't from the same village those others came from… they are the ones who found me.."

The man looked down and let go of his weapon to make the young girl feel better and extended welcome to the five of them, offering them to rest for the time being. Kakashi accepted the offer and began to wonder why such a peaceful village would be attacked by the sound village. He looked off in the distance and began to think, 'No matter the reason, I will not stand by and let the sound village destroy any more innocent lives.. it looks like I have no choice, here is where the fight will begin, Orochimaru.'

**To be continued…..**


	7. Chapter 7

Kakashi accepted the offer and began to wonder why such a peaceful village would be attacked by the sound village. He looked off in the distance and began to think, 'No matter the reason, I will not stand by and let the sound village destroy any more innocent lives. It looks like I have no choice; here is where the fight will begin, Orochimaru.' Squad seven looked rather tense as well, remembering the events that took place during the Chuunin exams not long before, and the first time they had meet the pale Sannin.

Sairen was a girl around the age of eight. Her eyes were a stunning blue color, and everything about her radiated such innocence. Her long brown hair flowed down her back and was lifted up as the winds began to pick up again. She brushed the strands out of her face and turned back to the ninja that assisted her. "I'm sure you are all hungry after your journey, won't you please join us for our evening meal?"

"We are grateful for the invitation, as long as we aren't any trouble for you." Kakashi responded.

A lady in her mid twenties approached from the crowd behind Sairen's uncle. She had a bright smile on her face and wore a rather modest outfit one that reminded Sasuke of what his mother would wear. Her hair was rather short that reached about shoulder length and was light brown in color. "Don't worry, you aren't causing us any trouble, in fact your presence here only makes us feel more secure. It's a blessing indeed to have help right after a terrible experience like that." He reached out her hand to Sairen and led the group to her home.

Sakura looked around a bit and noticed a picture on the far wall of the dinning room. She instantly recognized the young girl who appeared in the picture but the other three people were completely unfamiliar to her. She turned to the woman and began saying, "Excuse me, but who are these people?" Sairen looked over to Sakura and her eyes began to tear up as she saw the photo of her family. Without saying a word she rushed away, tears coming from her face. Sakura instantly had a look of sorrow on her face as she saw how hard things were for the young girl and instantly felt bad for her situation.

The woman walked over, placing the dishes down and looked up at the picture. "Those people are Sairen's family… her parents and the boy holding on to her, that is her older brother… Takuya." Sakura noticed from the corner of her eye that her fellow teammates, Sasuke and Naruto had some what sad faces and looks that appeared to her that they were going back into their own memories, relating to Sairen.

Kakashi looked over at the young woman wondering what had happened. "If you don't mind my asking, what happened to Sairen's parents?" The questioned asked by the silver haired Jounin got everyone's attention.

The young woman took a deep breath as she began to reveal the history of Sairen and her family. "The story of this family has been a bleak one and it appears the tragedy follows them like a lost puppy. They weren't always members of this village, before Sairen was born, they resided in one of the ninja villages. Her parents were rather strong ninja but as you must know there is always someone stronger. Her older brother Takuya belonged to the elite of their village, from a young age. Things seemed to be rather perfect but it only grew worse as the years progressed. One of the last ninja wars was what caused them to leave the village. Around the time Sairen was five years old her parents were brutality attacked. I remember seeing them stumbling into the village, it truly was a sad sight." She paused for a moment and looked out the door that Sairen had run through, "It's a memory that will forever stay with her."

The events that she were about to describe became visual for those listening to the tale. "Takuya was in his early to late teens when they had arrived here in the village. He used all his strength to carry his parents to our village. When we saw the condition of the two of them we could not turn them away and we allowed them to rest here. Our physicians tried their best to stop the bleeding but the damage was beyond our ability to treat. A few hours later Sairen found that her two parents had finally pasted away and she tried desperately to wake them again. Her older brother took hold of her and held her close as he calmly explained to her that their parents were gone but they were resting peacefully in a beautiful field like the ones they use to play in. Sairen always enjoyed the flower fields and being there makes her feel like she is with her parents."

Sakura looked as though she was going to cry as she listened. "A young girl shouldn't have to go through such heartache, and now her elder brother has been taken from her too…"

Naruto had a serious expression on his face as he stood up. He formed a fist and smiled a bit, "We will stop her suffering and return her elder brother to her, no matter what!" Everyone in the room nodded in agreement to the knuckle head ninja. Before anyone could say another word they heard the clanging of a spoon hitting the bowl and they looked over and noticed that Kakashi had already finished his meal. The blonde haired ninja's eyes bugged out as he realized that he yet again missed the true face of his sensei. 'Ahhhh not again! We never catch a break!' He plopped down and looked at the meal in front of him which appeared to be a stew and began to eat.

The two Jounin got up together and headed out into the village to continue work on the defenses for the villagers but when they returned they saw a good number of villagers already at work. Kioko was caught by surprise as she saw them putting together the barrier and the man who Sairen called uncle appeared to be the one giving direction. "How about that… It seems that the villagers want to help us out. From the looks of things, it looks rather completed."

As the last piece went in everyone began to celebrate and the uncle approached. Kakashi looked over at him and stated, "You didn't need to do this all by yourself." The elder man laughed and playful slapped Kakashi's arm, "This is our village after all. We should step up and help in its defense. Besides we wouldn't want you ninja to wear yourselves out. You all have some other ninja to battle so don't mention it."

Kakashi thanked them for their efforts and Kioko smiled but suddenly her attention was drawn to a mountain covered area close by the village. Her expression grew serious as her instincts pointed out that the sound ninja were approaching. "Kakashi you better get Naruto and the others, we have company." She stated. Then she looked around at the villagers and told them to find somewhere safe to hide. As all this was happening Kioko took the moment to attempt to bring out her larger wolves. She closed her eyes and began to concentrate on her chakra. Her eyes snapped open as she was able to feel a large burst of chakra from within her and quickly performed the summoning jutsu to bring forth two of her huge wolves. As the Genin of squad seven approached they were surprised when they saw the giant wolves standing next to her. They had to be roughly the height of a house and had pure white fur.

Naruto was surprised when he saw them. "They are gigantic!" Sasuke narrowed his eyes slightly as he began to think, 'It would appear that Kioko has gained a great deal of her chakra back if she is able to summon two wolves of that size.'

She looked a bit strained from where Kakashi was standing but she instantly turned around and smiled. "There is no need to worry about me. I was able to bring out a great deal of my chakra, but it's not at its maximum yet. Considering how strong the enemy feels this is all I'm going to need to finish them off. Kioko looked up and jumped onto of one of the giant wolves and began to head out, getting ready to jump over the wall. Kakashi was about to follow her but she shook her head. "No Kakashi, don't… you help the Genin and look after the villagers. I'm sure there are more on the way and they won't be coming from the same direction. I will look after the north and south side of the village you look after the east and west." At that moment Kioko nodded and the two wolves jumped over the fence and landed with a great force that practically knocked Naruto to the ground.

The second wolf went over to the south side and prepared to attack on any site of the enemy. Squad seven was broken up into two groups to cover more ground. Naruto and Sasuke were on the east side and Sakura and Kakashi were on the other. Kunais were held in each and they were poised to attack at any moment. Kioko's sensitive nose began to pick up the sent of the enemy and she smirked as she pulled out one of her clan's famous moves, the fireball jutsu. With that she was able to draw them out of hiding and the battle for the village had commenced.

Not too far away a boy who appeared to be around the same age as Kioko stood in the wings and watched as the battle commenced. His hair was a blonde light brown mix and his eyes were blue if people saw him rather quickly and didn't focus on him he would be mistaken for the fourth Hokage. A small smirk appeared on his face as his eyes attention was drawn to Kioko. 'This is an unexpected turn of events. I would never have guessed that our reunion would happen in place like this. This sure makes everything more interesting don't you think my old friend… Kioko Uchiha.'

**To be continued….**


	8. Chapter 8

Not too far away a boy who appeared to be around the same age as Kioko stood in the wings and watched as the battle commenced. His hair was a blonde light brown mix and his eyes were blue if people saw him rather quickly and didn't focus on him he would be mistaken for the fourth Hokage. A small smirk appeared on his face as his eyes attention was drawn to Kioko. '_This is an unexpected turn of events. I would never have guessed that our reunion would happen in place like this. This sure makes everything more interesting don't you think my old friend… Kioko Uchiha_.'

The loud bang from Kioko's attack got everyone ready for the battle that came ahead. She narrowed her eyes and looked upon the enemy that stood in front of her. The Uchiha's hand reached down to pull out a single kunai and stood posed for the next move. The sound ninja also got on their guard and began their own offensive move against the female ninja. On the side that Sasuke and Naruto were guarding they could hear cries of the villagers and rushed to check it out.

The sound ninja had split their forces into several flanks in order to get past the defenses. But the strange thing was it was as though they knew where the strongest ninja were. Kakashi didn't like the feel of the situation and his expression grew serious. Sakura looked over at him and had a puzzled expression written on her face, "What is it Kakashi-sensei?"

Kakashi looked over at Sakura and replied, "This whole situation doesn't seem right to me. The way that the sound ninja are attacking seems carefully planned and they seem to be avoiding this area and the forces seem weaker on the side that Kioko is guarding. Someone must have known who was here and diverted the ninja to the weaker ends of the village so there would be less wounded."

Sakura looked a bit surprised at the revelation and looked back at the area where Sasuke and Naruto were. Kakashi placed his hand on her shoulder. "Do not worry about them Sakura, you have to have faith in their abilities. They can take care of themselves." Sakura tried to relax but she couldn't help but be concerned about the safety of her teammates, '_I just hope you are right about that Kakashi-sensei_.'

At the other end of the village Sasuke and Naruto arrived to see that some of the villagers were surrounded by the enemy and they both appeared in seconds taking them out. The villagers' faces were soon covered with relief. Naruto turned around slightly and looked at them. "You better get inside, it's safer there. We'll take care of these guys." He watched as they ran off for cover and then turned back to face Sasuke who was staring down the sound ninja. "What do you think Sasuke?"

The Uchiha reached down and pulled out a kunai. "We can take them." Naruto felt the same confidence his best friend did and prepared his own attack. In an instant the two boys seemed to disappear, however they were just moving rather quickly. Sasuke in his usual show off way took out five of the sound ninja and then appeared in front of them. Naruto frowned a bit as he only took out four ninja. "That was good enough for a warm up, how about we get serious."

Naruto smiled as he moved his hands in one of his famous seals and shouted, "Shadow clone jutsu!" Around 30 clones appeared around Naruto. The blonde haired ninja's clones all looked rather excited and took off toward the group of sound shinobi.

Up in the mountains the unknown shinobi watched as Orochimaru's ninja were being taken down so easily by the five shinobi from the leaf. Kioko smiled as her wolves easily swatted the invaders away. When they realized that they couldn't take out the large creature they brought their attack on Kioko. A small smirk appeared on her face as she stood there for a moment. "How foolish…" The young woman flung the kunai toward them only having it pass which in turn drew their attention for a single moment and that's all she needed.

Having them in the air as they were gave Kioko the perfect opportunity to take them out. She held up a single seal and began to swirl her fingers and the wind picked up and in a blink of an eye the sound ninja were tore to ribbons by the wind blade jutsu. The broken bodies of the shinobi fell to the ground all around her and soon she was brought down to her knees by her own exhaustion. With a great deal of her chakra spent, the two wolves vanished in a poof of smoke.

Sasuke's attention was drawn by the poof of the closer of the two wolves and the ninja took advantage of that. Noticing that Sasuke wasn't aware of the on coming attack he shouted out his name before getting struck into one of the trees near by. Sasuke snapped out of his thoughts just in time to grab the ninja's hand and puncture a whole in his chest with the chidori. As Sasuke turned around he made direct eye contact with them all getting them caught in one of his genjutsu. The Uchiha boy made his way over to Naruto and shook him. "Hey, wake up loser."

Naruto began to wake up and he his vision focused on his best friend. He sprung up and looked around to see all the sound ninja unconscious. A 'what happened here' expression came on his face and Sasuke smiled as he deactivated his sharingan. "I trapped them in a genjutsu. But never mind that, we have to go see if my sister is alright. Can you move?" He nodded and picked himself up following after Sasuke who had already taken off toward Kioko's location.

Kakashi looked about and noticed that there were no more ninja around. He presumed that they retreated or were defeated already. His concern then went to Kioko as he had a feeling that she was going to need her help. Without much warning he took off toward her location and a confused Sakura followed suit. Kioko was still on one knee trying to catch her breath as the more formidable ninja appeared. "Been a long time, Kioko-chan." When she heard that she snapped her head up and looked up at the ninja. Her eyes revealed how shocked she was to see him. "I don't believe it… it's… it's really you…." Her mind began to race as she was thrown back into her memories, thinking back to the time that they shared together

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The sakura blossoms were falling all around them and the two of them were smiling and laughing as though there were no problems with the world around them. Kioko was only a young girl back then, around the age of 10. They were sitting around looking out into the sun set pleased to be in each others company. "You know Kazu-kun, you are one of my closest friends."

The boy appeared to be a year older then Kioko and smiled as he looked over at her. He stood up from a moment and looked out into the distance. A smile appeared on her face as she saw the peacefulness around him. She stood up and wrapped her arms in his. "It's beautiful isn't it?" Kazuma couldn't help but smile as he looked back at her, "Indeed it is, and you know something Kioko… I care about you a great deal and I would do anything for you."

"I know you would. You've always looked out for me and protected me just like my big brother does. I know I can depend on you and we will always have a connection like this." Her grip tightened a bit and looked down some. "Even if we don't live in the same village at some point." After a few moments she pulled back and lifted up her pinky, "Lets make a promise… that we will never forget about each other."

Kazuma looked over at her and wrapped his finger around hers. "I promise I would never forget about you."

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Kazuma Nakamura." Suddenly came the voice of Kakashi as he approached with the other members of his squad. He looked up and noticed that he now bore the symbol for the sound village. "I had never thought that you would betray the leaf village and join Orochimaru's ranks."

Sasuke looked up at the man feeling as though he had met him somewhere else before but he just couldn't remember where. Kazuma could help but let out a small laugh. "You were always rather blind Kakashi but even so, you should have seen this coming."

Hearing her friends name again snapped her out of her memories and she once again spoke, "Kazu-kun… I'm so happy to see you after all these years." Kakashi was rather surprised as he saw her get to her feet and it was even more shocking to see that she remembered him. "I may not remember everything but the memories of you are so clear to me…."

Kazuma smiled but kept his distance from the five of them. "I must admit this isn't the way I wanted our reunion to go but I'm still glad I had a chance to see you again."

His smile faded as he turned back to Kakashi. The two ninja stared at each other for a few moments in complete silence and it only made the genin nervous. Kakashi pulled out one of his kunai and pointed it at Kazuma which did little to change his resolve. On Kazuma's belt, Kakashi noticed the younger ninja's Konoha Anbu mask and this discovery only brought about more questions instead of answers. "If you think that is going to scare me into talking, you are sadly mistaken Kakashi. You must really underestimate me."

Kakashi's expression grew serious as he realized that his tactics weren't working and that meant that the only way for him to get answers was through force. Tensions grew between them as their wills battled, not one giving up their ground for a moment. "No matter the reason, I can not forgive you for attacking the innocent people of this village. With this kunai I will put an end to you!"

Kazuma smirked as he reached behind him to pull out his Anbu sword. "I wonder if you really can, Kakashi."

The Jounin ninja looked over at Kioko and his own resolve was beginning to slip. Kakashi knew of the great bond that the two of them had and he feared that Kioko would lose control if anything happened to Kazuma. He growled to himself as he looked back at Orochimaru's subordinate. '_Looks like he hasn't changed at all after all these years. Already he has the advantage over me. There must be another way and I better find it quick or this could be trouble for all of us…_'

**To be continued…..**


	9. Chapter 9

The elder Jounin looked at the former Konoha ninja and then looked back at Kioko, his mind trying to find a way finishing this without awaking the darker side of the female Uchiha. Kazuma stood there unflinching, his face rather wicked, which Kakashi contributed his connection with Orochimaru but it also showed that he had begun to be taken over the evil that destroyed his family years before. The gray haired ninja sighed as he realized there was no other way but to battle him. His hand reached up and moved his forehead protector, upward revealing the Sharingan eye. Kazuma smirked and took off in an instant and Kakashi quickly began his search for the sound ninja.

Within moments there was a clash between Kazuma's sword and Kakashi's kunai. At this moment the medical ninja smiled as he allowed chakra to circle around his hand, getting ready to strike Kakashi's inner castals. The elder ninja grew tensed and jumped back avoiding the blow that would have made it harder for him to breathe. Without giving him much time to recover Kazuma continued his constant sword strikes and began his taunting, "What's the matter Kakashi? Are you just going to run away from me?" Once again he swung knocking the kunai out of his hand. Kazuma then lifted his katana and pressed it against Kakashi's throat.

Sweat came down from his face but then he noticed a bit of hesitation in the young boys eyes. All the genin trembled and Naruto growled as he looked like he was about to charge the enemy. Kazuma let out a small laugh and without turning around he stated, "You even try to attack me and I'll kill him." In that moment Kakashi noticed he took his eyes off him, for a brief second and that gave him the opportunity to knock the sword out of his hand and sent it into one of the trees in the surrounding area. Kazuma didn't let this upset him; he just brought out his chakra scalpel and began his attack again.

Everyone around them felt rather hopeless, knowing they couldn't lend a hand to help their sensei. Sasuke looked sighed and looked over at the younger ninja and finally he remembered who this young man was but noticing he was one of the sound confused him to no end. The man he knew was extremely loyal to the village, not to mention his own family. Sasuke was thrown out of his thoughts when he heard a loud bang and when he turned he saw his sensei had been thrown into a large rock. Naruto narrowed his eyes and began to form a fist that broke the skin, "Kakashi-sensei!"

The elder ninja's body was trembling and Kazuma smirked as he stood over him. "You won't be moving anytime soon, Kakashi." He let out a small laugh as he let the chakra around his hands dissipate. Kakashi desperately tried to move as Kazuma began to head over to his tree to retrieve his sword. As he walked back Kazuma looked down a bit looking at his weapon and then back down at Kakashi. The young boy raised his sword up into the air about to bring it down for a fatal blow but Kioko hugged Kazuma from behind. "Don't do it!"

If that wasn't surprising enough Kazuma lowered his sword to his side and backed down. Kakashi looked into the young boys eyes once again and noticed they were different than before. The eyes Kakashi saw were like the ones Kazuma had back in the leaf village. Kioko slowly let go of her friend who took a deep breath before apologizing to the Jounin. Control started to return to the gray haired ninja as he stood up and once again asked for an explanation. "Why did you abandon the leaf village and join Orochimaru?"

Everyone was relieved to see the fighting come to an end between the two shinobi. Kazuma let out a small sigh as he re-sheathed his katana and looked back at Kakashi, who was still looking for an explanation. It took a few moments for Kazuma to find the right words to explain his actions. "Your understanding of the situation is half correct at best. During those simpler days, I was extremely loyal to both the village and my own clan. Before the massacre of the Uchiha clan, Orochimaru had sought me out, learning of my unique abilities from Kabuto. Sarutobi-sama took notice of Orochimaru's interest in me and gave me the mission to keep an eye on Orochimaru. Slowly I gained great Orochimaru's trust and I became a double agent of sorts."

Kakashi listened to the medic's explanation and nodded in understanding. Kazuma knew that the explanation wasn't enough for the silver haired Jounin. He let out another breath as a cooling breeze came over them and swayed his already messed up blondish brown hair. "However, I will not stand here and say that it wasn't all about the mission. I also wanted to go to Orochimaru, on my own accord."

As Sasuke listened to his explanation, he grew increasingly angry, forming a tight fist at his side. Without much warning he growled and began shouting at Kazuma. "How could you freely serve Orochimaru after what he did to her?!" The medic narrowed his eyes as he tried to figure out what the younger Uchiha was talking about. He glanced over at his childhood friend, in utter confusion. "He took advantage of her desire to be free of her memories to get rid of her." Kioko let out a small sigh as she placed her hand on his right shoulder to calm him down.

"He did what? To be honest Sasuke I had no knowledge of this." Kakashi turned his attention to the former anbu captain, waiting for the answer to Sasuke's other question. "At this point in my life the best place for me is by Orochimaru's side. The darkness of my clan has already started to consume me and I…." Kazuma didn't get a chance to finish his statement as Kioko suddenly hugged him, crying in his chest. The Nakamura blinked a few times as he looked down hearing her sobs, "It's not true…. Please Kazu-kun… tell me it's not true." Kioko raised her head and looked into his stunning blue eyes. "Please don't leave me Kazu-kun. I'll fix it… I won't let you fall into the darkness completely!"

Kazuma broke a small smile as he looked back down at his closest friend. "I promised you, remember? I promised that no matter what I would always be there for you and I would never leave your side." With those words Kioko hugged him a great sense of joy coming over her. They remained in each others arms for a few moments before Kazuma explained he had to return to the sound village. With that he began to walk away from the group of ninja. The medic didn't get too far before he was stopped once again, this time by Naruto.

The blonde haired ninja held his arms out straight out and had a rather serious expression on his face. "You're not getting out of here that easy. I made a promise to Sairen to get her brother, Takuya back and I'm not about to go back on my word. That's my nindo my ninja way." Kazuma looked down at the younger shinobi and let out a small sigh as he saw the determination his Naruto's eyes. "You truly are your father's child. Stopping me won't bring back the boy you seek. Takuya is already in the Sound village, though I can't tell you what exactly Orochimaru has in store for him. All I know is that he has a kekkei genkai that he's had an eye on for sometime."

The explanation was enough to make Naruto calm down and it was exactly what Kakashi was looking for to confirm his suspicions about the attack on the village. Before Kazuma could return to his new home he turned back to Kioko breaking a small smile sending a message to her around the lines of everything will be ok. With that he vanished in a poof, leaving the five ninja alone in the damaged village. Naruto looked back at his sensei with a fierce determination in his eyes. "We have to go after him Sensei!"

Kakashi looked over in Kioko's direction noticed the fatigue had taken its toll. They were in no condition to chase after the sound ninja. Kioko lightly rubbed her forehead trying to rid herself of another memory headache. She could sense that everyone wanted to continue on with their mission and she broke a small reassuring smile. "Don't concern yourselves with me… I can manage. We should hurry to the sound village." The silver haired ninja knew better then to argue with the female Uchiha. He simply nodded and gave the signal to move out.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

In no time at all Kazuma had arrived back in the sound village. Before he returned to the hideout he pulled out a small piece of paper and scribbled a message on it before rolling it back up. He snapped his fingers and a large crow appeared on his arm. The medic slid the note in a little carrier that was strapped to its leg. "Make sure that gets to him." At the sound of Kazuma's order the bird took off in the location of the unknown recipient of the message. The dark expression on his face returned as the darkness began to consume him again. '_Orochimaru..... You won't get away with the deed you did to Kioko. I will make sure of it._'

**To be continued….**


	10. Chapter 10

"Make sure that gets to him." At the sound of Kazuma's order the bird took off in the location of the unknown recipient of the message. The dark expression on his face returned as the darkness began to consume him again. '_Orochimaru..... You won't get away with the deed you did to Kioko. I will make sure of it._' The Nakamura, unknown to most people was deeply in love with the female Uchiha. His feelings for Kioko had developed during their childhood together. Even though Kioko always claimed that her heart belonged to her big brother alone, it was apparent that she returned Kazuma's love. In fact, Kazuma was the only man Itachi ever approved to be with his younger sister. Once the crow was out of site, Kazuma began walking through the halls of Orochimaru's hideout.

There was no doubt in his mind that Kakashi and the others would make their way to Orochimaru's hideout. It was only a matter of time before they would arrive but that was something he'd worry about when it came to it. The brownish blonde medic continued down the dark corridors before entered the lab that he shared with Kabuto. The room was filled with various organs and body parts from their various experiments. On the far side of the room, Kabuto was doing an examination on the unconscious Takuya. His back was to his best friend and his eyes were fixated on the monitor before him, which displayed all his medical information. "I take it the mission went well, Kazu?"

Kazuma let out a small laugh as he leaned against the stone wall. "I ran into some difficulties. However, it's nothing I can't take care of. How is Lord Orochimaru's condition? Any improvements since I left this morning?" The snake Sannin was once again having problems with his replacement body. The one he currently has was beginning to reject him and this made him increasingly ill.

Kabuto walked over to his desk and pulled out a report, examining the results before handing it to Kazuma. He thanked his partner before scanning through it. "I see, there hasn't been any change. From my last examination I would say, he has two months maximum before he needs to switch bodies again, which will give us time to run our tests." With that he placed the report down and began to make his way out of the lab. Kabuto fixed his glasses again before turning back to Kazuma, "Be warned, he's in a foul mood."

The Nakamura shook his head slightly, "He's always in a foul mood, Kabuto." He stated in a nonchalant tone before closing the door behind him. Even though Orochimaru's body was slowly falling apart he refused to be treated as a vulnerable child. His ambitions for power wouldn't be stopped by such a set back. Kazuma then made his way to his sensei's bedroom and as he walked in he was somewhat surprised not to see another corpse lying on the ground. "Seems your feeling better, Lord Orochimaru." The snake Sannin looked up to see his left hand man and gestured for him to enter.

"Kazuma-kun, I do hope you've come back unharmed." Orochimaru's concerns for Kazuma were both truth and deception. Both Kazuma and Kabuto knew that Orochimaru would have taken Kazuma's body long ago if not for the inconvenient as he put it, side effects of his ability. The Nakamura simply nodded in response to his statement before standing beside him. "It won't be long now before my ambitions become a reality. Even though I failed to obtain an Uchiha body, this Takuya was a nice catch and will work perfectly for me. Soon very soon, all our plans will bear fruit." Kazuma broke a small smirk as he agreed with Orochimaru at the same time pleased how well his own plans were working out.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The crow flew close to the Hidden Rain Village and its coal colored eyes scanned over the area for the recipient of the message from the sound ninja. In the distance it locked on the familiar cloaked figures of the Akatsuki. Kisame looked over his shoulder slightly to see the crow coming toward his partner. "Itachi-san, in coming." Without as much as a turn of the head, Itachi raised his right arm, allowing the messenger to land. Itachi's eyes wandered down the bird to the container and snapped it off. With the burden of the container removed the bird let out a caw before spreading its wings and taking off. A few moments passed before he looked at it and noticed its origin. '_From the sound village? Could this be from…. No… Orochimaru has no idea how to even reach me. That must mean it came from, Kazuma._"

Itachi opened the container and pulled out the message, unrolling it carefully. As he read it Itachi formed a fist with his free hand. Kisame was curious as to what made his partner loose his self control. He had not known Itachi to ever lose his cool about anything, even in battle. Before he could even utter a sound Itachi was already starting off, after pocketing the note. "Itachi-san?"

"We're going Kisame." Kisame let out a small sigh as he caught up to Itachi and began walking beside him again. He looked over at him and could see the annoyance in his onyx eyes.

Once they had reached the border of the hideout, Itachi could sense the presence of Zetsu. He turned his head slightly to see the messenger/ spy of the leader. "Where are you doing Itachi-san?"

"To eliminate Orochimaru." He said simply as he walked passed without another word. Both Kisame and Zetsu were bewildered at Itachi's sudden desire to hunt down the snake Sannin. Even though they were curious about it, they knew better then to press the issue any future, unless they wanted to sign their own death wishes. In an instant they had disappeared in the mist, on their way to the sound village.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Kakashi and the others were making good progress toward Orochimaru's hideout. Kioko's tracker wolves lead the way following Kazuma's scent. As they were traveling through the trees, Kioko looked up at the sky and noticed the darkening clouds. A few moments afterward she felt a few rain drops on her head. That was a sign they had to stop and set up camp somewhere. She made her way back toward the ground and that caught everyone's attention. Naruto of course was the first to say anything, "Kioko-chan, what's wrong? Why did you stop so suddenly?"

As if answering his question the rain started to fall around them. The Jounin looked at each other before nodding as if they had read each others thoughts. "There is a cave not to far from here. We can use that for shelter tonight." Kakashi explained as he took the lead, bringing everyone to there temporary base. It wasn't long before they had gotten their camp set up and a fire going. "We will move out in the morning when the rain lets up."

Naruto looked over at his sensei with a look of objection. "But sensei, if we do that, we will lose the trail!" Sakura leaned over and nudged him innocently gesturing in Kioko's direction. The rain wasn't their only problem, the fight from early had taken its toll on Kioko and the fatigue was setting in. The blonde haired ninja let out a small sigh before nodding in compliance with what his sensei had said.

"Alright then, everyone rest up." With those words everyone slid in their sleeping bags and began to drift off to sleep. Kioko's wolves huddled around their mistress to keep her warm. Hours have pasted since the group of ninja had fallen asleep. It wasn't to long afterward that Kioko began to dream again.

--------------------------------

_A seven and a half year old Kioko was wandered around the village in the afternoon. In her arms she was carrying a bag of groceries for her mom and by her side was a small wolf pup. The two were on their way back to the Uchiha estate when suddenly Kioko accidentally bumped into on of the villagers. The impact sent her backward, onto the ground. Kioko's wolf came over to her letting out little whimpers as if asking if she was alright. The person she ran into turned around was about to offer his hand to help her up. Kioko broke a small smile as she reached up to take the guys hand when suddenly he slapped her hand away. "You're that monster from the Uchiha clan." _

_Others in the area sent glares in Kioko's attention, looks of disgust and you shouldn't be here. A few tears started to form in her eyes as she heard this. She didn't understand why everyone seemed to hate her so much. As she tried to pull herself up from the floor a few shuriken came flying in. Kioko quickly jumped out of the way and she saw they had come in the direction of one the leaf village Chuunin. The young girl dropped her bag and took off trying to get away from the aggressor. The attacking ninja knocked her back into a wall and her eyes widened in fear as he made his way toward her. "Please, leave me alone…" Kioko pleaded but he didn't seem to listen._

"_You are nothing but a monster. Creatures like you don't belong in this village!" He pulled out his sword and prepared to strike again. Kioko's body wouldn't move as fright too over. Once he got in range her began to swing his sword and Kioko clamped her eyes shut. Her body tensed waiting for the blow but it never came. Instead the wolf pup and bit the chuunin's leg, making him let out a loud shout in pain. "Get off me you mutt!" He bellowed. The pup held on tight and Kioko's eyes widened in shock as she saw his heroics. After a few moments he shook the small creature off his leg sending him flying to the ground hard. "NO! Yoko!" Kioko shouted. _

_Now the Chuunin was even more furious then had been previously and moved closer to finish things off. Her body still wouldn't move that well as she saw her short life begin to fly past her face. A few moments later Fugaku, Kioko's father came around the corner and saw that his daughter was in trouble. "Kioko get out of there!" He shouted. She tried to move but her legs seemed to be glued in place and her eyes shut again. "KIOKO!" _

_Hearing her father's voice the second time snapped her out of her fearful state and her eyes snapped open, revealing the Sharingan. In a flash she moved, grabbing the kunai from the ground, and made her attack. Being that she was still small, she was able to dodge his sword strike and then from under him gave him a powerful punch under the chin, sending the ninja up in the ground. The adrenaline was still going through her veins at his point and she finished him off with what appeared to be precursor to Sasuke's Lion's __Barrage. Fugaku had a total shocked expression on his face as he looked at what Kioko, had accomplished. He came over and bent down to make sure she was alright. "You alright Kioko?"_

_Kioko looked up at her father and nodded. "I'm fine, __Otosan." A relieved expression appeared on his face as he heard that. Fugaku was also surprised to see what she had also obtained the Sharingan. "That's my girl." He said proudly as he helped her on her feet._

_A few minutes later more members of the police force came around the corner. "_**_Teichou! Everything secured here?" He simply nodded as he gave the order to arrest the chunnin and walked off with Kioko close by his side. _**

**_------------------------------------_**

Kioko woke up a few moments later, taking a few deep breaths. She looked around trying to get her barrings and was relieved to know it was just a dream. The young woman tried to go back to bed but it proved to be an futile indever. There was only a few hours left before the sun came up so she sat there and looked at the dwindling fire. Not too long after that Sasuke woke up and joined his sister. "You alright, Kioko?"

Kioko snapped out of her thoughts and looked over at Sasuke. She didn't realize that her sharingan had returned to her and saw a somewhat shocked expression on her brother's face. "What Sasuke? Do I have something on my face?"

"No, no… its just that… your sharingan is back." She broke a small smile as she let out a small breath, deactivating them. "How?"

"Last night, I had a dream about the first time I had gained my sharingan." As Kioko spoke Sasuke looked over rather interested. The younger Uchiha never really knew how either Itachi or Kioko had gained their regular sharingan. The only thing he did know was they both mastered it at a young age. He looked at her as if begging to find out more about it. "Well… apparently I got mine when was fighting one of the village's chunnin. I tell you I was pretty scared, but I have father to thank."

"Father helped you?" Kioko simply nodded to her brother's question. "That chuunin would have killed me, I know that. If he didn't show up and call out to me, I don't think I would have found the strength inside of me to do it. It was strange but it was one of the best feelings… seeing father so proud of me." Sasuke was happy to hear his sister's tale and broke a small smile. With that Kioko stood up, "Guess I better prepare breakfast for everyone. Care to help me?" There was no hesitation in Sasuke's response as he nodded and walked out with his sister to grab some food for the group.

Sasuke looked back up at his sister with a smile. '_We are getting closer to getting all your memories back. Soon you will be back to your old self._'

**To be continued….**


	11. Chapter 11

For the first time in years, a genuine smile appeared on Sasuke's face. The younger Uchiha had been without family for a long time, he was just relieved that he'd be able to get one back. The siblings walked out to the lake together to gather some breakfast. Kioko's eyes glanced over the peaceful waters and saw the unsuspecting fish swimming about. With the confirmation of food, Kioko bent down and rolled up her pant leg before going into the water. Sasuke stood, poised to catch the fish as his sister threw them in the air. The female Uchiha skillfully lowered her arms into the water and caught five fish, one for each of them. The young man tied them all together and waited for his sister to return. "You do that so much better then Naruto."

Kioko let out a small laugh as she tried to picture Naruto attempting to get fish. It wasn't a pretty sight by any means. The two siblings started to walk back side by side as if they didn't have a care in the world. As they did, Kioko glanced over at her younger brother and smiled thinking how she'd like to have it like this all the time. While they were gone, Naruto and the others began to wake up. The blonde haired ninja sat up and rubbed his eyes and as his vision adjusted he let out a loud shout. Sakura jumped up to attention looking around for some kind of enemy. "What!"

Naruto had jumped to his feet and was pointing like a mad man at the place where Sasuke had gone to sleep. "Sasuke's been kidnapped!" Sakura had a doubtful expression written on her face. "You're jumping to conclusions again, Naruto." The knuckle head ninja continued to go on about how they had to go searching for Sasuke and then panicked when he realized Kioko was missing as well. He dashed over to his sensei. "Kakashi-sensei! We have to find them!" He shouted. Of course the Jounin didn't hear a thing he said, since he had ear plugs in his ears. The elder ninja learned that was the only way he'd get any sleep with Naruto around going on rampages at night.

Just then Sasuke appeared in the opening of the cave with a confused expression on his face. "Find who, idiot?" Naruto snapped his head in the direction of the sound and a relieved expression appeared on his face. "You're ok! Thank goodness, I thought that you were kidnapped or something." The Uchiha boy let out a small sigh before hitting Naruto over the head out of annoyance. "Usuratonkachi" Naruto wined about getting hit again and started another fight with Sasuke.

Kakashi let out a small sigh as he raised his arm and pulled out the ear plugs. "Naruto, if there were any problems, Kioko's wolves would have known about it. They are extremely protective of her…." Before he could finish his statement one of the wolves bit Naruto lightly on the leg. He let out a loud cry before hitting his head on the cave ceiling. "And it would appear they are protective of her siblings as well." Naruto muttered something about a stupid mutt before gathering his stuff. Meanwhile, while all this excitement was going on inside, Kioko had taken the time to start cooking the fish.

After a few moments everyone had packed up there things and were sitting around the fire having their fish. They all thanked Kioko and complemented her cooking ability yet again. When they were finished they put out the fire and thought about how they were going to find there way to the sound village. The rains had completely wiped away Kazuma's scent. As they discussed it Kioko began to walk ahead without a word. Sakura blinked a few times, "Kioko-san?" With that everyone grabbed their belongings and followed right after her. The female Uchiha was pretty sure that on the other side of the woods was a trail that leads to the Sound. "I'm pretty sure it's this way. This path seems rather familiar to me."

No one was going to argue with her and with that they continued toward the border between the Leaf and Sound. The group continued to dash through the woods hoping they weren't too late, for they knew from experience that Orochimaru was a hard one to track down. Hours had gone by and the group didn't run into anyone. That was the kind of situation they were hoping for, but Kakashi found it somewhat disturbing. When Naruto looked over at Kioko again he blinked a few times as he saw a somewhat saddened expression on her face. '_Wonder what's on her mind_.'

As the afternoon progressed fatigue started to catch up with the five ninja. Kakashi then issued the order for them to take a small break. When they landed Kioko said that she'd be back shortly. She went off on her own and sat up in a tree simply staring at the necklace that Itachi had given her. It didn't take Naruto long before he start to get concerned for her safety. "I'll be right back." He stated before taking off in the direction of the female Uchiha. The blonde ninja looked around and then spotted her with that same expression on her face. "Oy, Kioko-chan!"

Kioko snapped out of her thoughts when she had heard Naruto's call and smiled, offering him a seat beside her. Naruto jumped on the branch and then looked over at her again. He knew there was a lot on her mind and he understood her thoughtful expression. She had been through a lot with the whole retrieval of her memories. "Is there something bothering you? You seemed all cheerful this morning and now…"

She turned too look at him and then looked down. "This whole thing has been crazy for me. It's as if I'm learning all about myself again. There is a great deal to take in but I'll be alright Naruto. If nothing else happens, I just want things to go back to the way things use to be. I don't care if I don't get all my memories back. All I really want is to be happy with my friends and siblings." Naruto understood completely, after all he had similar feelings. He just wanted to be able to protect his friends and be together with them. Every day he could see that same desire hiding in Sasuke's eyes and he was rather happy to see those needs being fulfilled. With that off her chest she broke a small smile and said, "We should be heading back. I'm sure everyone is getting worried about now."

While the two of them were away Kakashi and Sasuke had some time to chat. The Jounin looked over at his prized pupil as they began to talk about Kioko's progress. A thoughtful expression appeared on Kakashi's face as Sasuke told him that Kioko had gained her Sharingan back. "Kioko's recovery of the Sharingan marks the return of all her early abilities. From here on out, things will increasingly start to get dangerous. The memories after the Sharingan fueled the development of her more powerful jutsu."

Sasuke nodded as he thought back to the day of the massacre as well as the ones before it. He remembered seeing the strange Sharingan of his elder brother and he knew that his sister followed in his footsteps. That meant that she too would have the power of the Mangekyou Sharingan. Sasuke remembered the powerful and painful jutsu that came from it. "Not only that Sasuke, eventually this path will lead us to Itachi. I know you still wish to get your revenge but, remember the most important person in Kioko's life is your elder brother. If anything were to happen to him, it could set off a spark and cause her to lose all control of her demon's power."

The young Uchiha nodded in understanding as his memory took him back to those simple days when the three of them would just sit outside and laugh together. He snapped out of his thoughts when he heard Naruto's voice. Sasuke saw the happy expression on his sister's face and with that he made his decision. '_Kioko, I will do everything I can do to protect that smile. I will assure that your happiness remains, no matter what, even if that means I must forgive Itachi.'_

**To be continued….**


End file.
